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Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens(also known asStar Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens) is directed byJ. J. Abrams and it is the seventh installment in the episodic Star Warsfilm series. The film starsJohn Boyega,Daisy Ridley,Adam Driver,Oscar Isaac,Andy Serkis,Domhnall Gleeson, andMax von Sydow, withHarrison Ford,Carrie Fisher,Mark Hamill,Anthony Daniels,Peter Mayhew, andKenny Bakerreprising roles from previous films. The story is set approximately 30 years after the events ofReturn of the Jedi(1983).

The Force Awakenswill be the first film in the plannedthirdStar Warstrilogyannounced afterThe Walt Disney Company’s acquisition ofLucasfilmin October 2012. It is produced by Abrams, his long-time collaboratorBryan Burk, and Lucasfilm presidentKathleen Kennedy. Abrams directed the film from a screenplay he co-wrote withLawrence Kasdan, co-writer of theoriginal trilogyfilmsThe Empire Strikes BackandReturn of the Jedi. Abrams and Kasdan rewrote an initial script byMichael Arndt, who also wrote the story treatment.John Williamsreturns to compose the score, andStar WarscreatorGeorge Lucasserves as creative consultant.

The Force Awakensis produced byWalt Disney Pictures, Lucasfilm and Abrams’Bad Robot Productions, and will be distributed byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Second-unit filming began in April 2014 inAbu DhabiandIceland, with principal photography taking place between May and November 2014 in Abu Dhabi, Ireland andPinewood Studiosin England.The Force Awakensis scheduled for release on December 18, 2015, which will be over ten years after the premiere of the previous live-actionStar Warsfilm,Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

“The Force is strong in my family.”

On november 2014, Disney released the first Episode VII teaser (click here to watch). The second teaser-trailer of Episode VII was released by Disney at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, on past month. The new teaser has 1m50s while the first teaser had 80s.

The new trailer debuted with Disney-Marvel’sAvengers: Age of Ultronthat opened in theaters in first of May and we can wait to review the core original trilogy characters Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and potentially others as R2-D2 and C-3P0. Two of these old heroes we just got to see (Han and Chewie), while another (Luke) we only can hear his words “The Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. My sister has it. You have that power, too.”

This secondEpisode VIIteaser has been confirmed several rumors and fleshing out a few sequences from the earlier teaser. We see more of the Falcon chase sequence, this time extending through a crashed Imperial Star Destroyer, a glimpse at Han Solo and Chewbacca, looking just as cool several decades later, and a pile of new starship and Stormtrooper shots confirming artwork and rumors of redesigns.

Read more about Episode VII on Wikipedia. Watch Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens 2nd Teaser on YouTube. And may the Force be with you!

Return of the Jedi 32 years, 32 facts

This weekend on All That I Love, we are celebrating the Episode IV A New Hope 38th anniversary and the Episode V The Empire Strikes Back 35th anniversary as well the 32th anniversary of Episode VI Return of the Jedi. So here are 32 facts maybe you don’t know about Return of the Jedi.

1. Most Star Wars fans know that the movie was filmed under the title Blue Harvest: Horror Beyond Imagination to avoid publicity, but it’s less-known that the bogus title was a play on Dashiell Hammet’s 1929 novel Red Harvest, which was said to be an influence for Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, which was cited as an influence for Star Wars. See how it all comes together?

2. Jabba’s sail barge was filmed in Yuma, Arizona. The film crew had problems avoiding the 35,000 dune buggy enthusiasts in the area. To preserve secrecy, the producers claimed to be making a horror film called “Blue Harvest” with the tagline “Horror beyond imagination”, and even had caps and t-shirts made up for the crew. A chain-link fence and a 24-hour security service could not prevent die-hard fans from entering the set and sneaking some photographs.

The Jabba’s Sail Barge set on location in Yuma, AZ.

3. Despite the credits, Richard Marquand may not have directed all of the movie; George Lucas directed some footage, and Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner once hinted that Marquand’s assistant directed footage credited to Marquand, due to Marquand’s poor relationship with the actors.

4. Speaking of connections to classic movies, Emperor Palpatine, making his first appearance in the flesh — he was just bits and bytes in that hologram in Empire, and was portrayed by a different actor — was at first named after a character in Taxi Driver, but his name was changed to avoid potential legal issues.

The directors of the original Star Wars trilogy: Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back), George Lucas (Star Wars ) and Richard Marquand (Return of the Jedi).

5. And speaking of Marquand, he wasn’t the first choice for Jedi. Or the second, or even third. Stephen Spielberg, David Cronenberg and David Lynch were ahead of him in line. Just imagine, for a second, Cronenberg or, better, Lynch making a movie with Ewoks.

6. The Ewoks occasionally speak Tagalog, although most of their dialogue is loosely inspired by Kalmuck, a language spoken in Mongolia. One of the Ewok songs once was believed to be in Swedish — with the lyrics translating, wonderfully, as “It smells of cereal in here” — but that, sadly, was based upon people mishearing the gibberish the oversized rodents were singing.

Ewoks seize the clapperboard on May 17, 1982, during second unit work near Crescent City.

7. The word “Ewok” is never actually said in Return of The Jedi, and neither were the names of individual Ewoks, although both appear in the end credits.

8. “Ewok” is derived from the Native American tribe the Miwok, indigenous to the Northern California redwood forests in which the Endor scenes were shot.

Carrie Fisher with a very young Warwick Davis who played Ewok Wicket Wystri Warrick in Return of the Jedi. Davis was 11-years-old.

9. “Endor” comes from the Bible and is a village visited by King Saul before his final battle with the Philistines. Oddly enough, it also makes an appearance in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings, as the Elvish name for Middle-Earth.

10. Ewoks were a late addition to the Star Wars mythology. Their part in the story was to be played by the Wookiees, but by the time Lucas and partners sat down to write Return of The Jedi, they realized that, because Chewbacca could fly the Millennium Falcon, repair the ship and operate pretty much any weapon or machine in the known universe, they’d made the Wookiees too technologically advanced for the plot.

11. In what is either amazing planning or, more likely, complete coincidence, the one word C-3PO says to the Ewoks is “Naboo,” which was later revealed in The Phantom Menace to be the home world of Luke and Leia’s mother — and Anakin Skywalker’s wife — Queen Amidala.

12. The lyrics to the song the Ewoks perform at the end of the movie — the words everyone heard as “yub nub” — were written by none other than Joseph Williams, son of Star Wars composer John and lead singer with Toto. Someone, somewhere: Please make a mash-up of this song and Toto’s “Africa” as soon as possible.

Ian McDiarmid in his complete Emperor’s makeup, which covered only the front two-thirds of his head. The cowl always covered the back of his head.

13. Both lightsabers used in the movie were re-purposed props from earlier movies. Darth Vader’s lightsaber was a Luke Skywalker saber from The Empire Strikes Back because all of Vader’s had mysteriously disappeared between movies. Luke’s new saber was originally one of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s from the original Star Wars movie.

14. Yoda was to sit this one out, but he was added after consultation with child psychologists made George Lucas decide he needed an independent character to confirm Darth Vader’s claim that he is Luke Skywalker’s father. Now you know why Yoda doesn’t do much for the rest of the movie.

15. In the radio adaptation of the movie, broadcast on NPR in 1996, Yoda was played by John Lithgow. Just think about that for a minute.

Phil Tippett and Stewart Freeborn pose before their joint collaboration: a menagerie of wonderful monsters.

16. The reasoning behind the switch from the title Revenge of The Jedi to Return of The Jedi is murky, with various motivations given by various people at various times. One story has it that the switch returned the movie to its original title after Lucas temporarily changed it when Kasdan complained “Return” was “too weak.” Another has it that the change was made to differentiate the movie from the second Star Trek movie, which filmed under the title The Vengeance of Khan (Vengeance later became Wrath because of Revenge of The Jedi, according to those involved with the Star Trek production). The third story, which is my favorite, says Revenge was never the movie’s title at all, but Lucas announced that it was purely to mess with those making counterfeit merchandise.

17. The only cast member to shoot new material for the 1997 re-release was Femi Taylor. Whattya mean you don’t recognize the name? And you call yourself a fan? She played Oola, the slave girl fed to the Rancor in Jabba’s palace. According to rumors, she was recommended to Lucasfilm and ILM for reshoots because she was in better shape than she had been 15 years earlier; her scenes in the Special Edition are a mix of new and original footage.

18. Carrie Fisher complained about her costumes in the previous two movies. She said they were so long, you could not tell “she was a woman”. Those complaints led to the skimpy outfit she wore as Jabba’s prisoner. The costume became something of a running joke among the crew, because the metal framework that held the top together meant that the costume didn’t move well with her. Since Fisher didn’t like the industry standard solution of using double-sided tape, it became necessary before each take to have a wardrobe person check to ensure that her breasts were still snug inside the costume top (and several scenes had to be re-shot when “wardrobe malfunctions” occurred).

19. Adding to the Star Wars movies’ accidental misogyny, the few women flying spacecraft for the Rebellion were edited out of Return for unknown reasons. Surely women are no less capable of bulls-eying womp rats in a T-16…

20. However, Return of The Jedi does hold the dubious honor of being the first Star Wars movie to feature more than one woman who was more than a background extra. Take a bow, Mon Motha. You broke new ground in a way that is genuinely embarrassing to admit. (Seriously, Princess Leia is the only named female character in the first two Star Wars movies.)

Mark Hamill is filmed during Luke’s moment of choice: will he commit patricide or become a true Jedi and show compassion for his father?

21. The voice of Boushh, Princess Leia’s bounty hunter disguise in Jabba’s Palace, is provided by Pat Welsh. Welsh’s only other voiceover work is a biggie: She was the voice of E.T. in 1982′s E.T. The Extra Terrestrial.

22. The shots of Darth Vader’s funeral pyre were shot last minute, long after the end of initial filming, and close to Lucas’ home Skywalker Ranch.

23. David Prowse, the unusually tall actor who played Darth Vader throughout the series, didn’t film any of the lightsaber battle sequences for Return of The Jedi. Instead, he was replaced by stuntman Bob Anderson. Anderson, considerably shorter than Prowse, wore platform boots. Somewhere, Gene Simmons just smiled.

Harrison Ford relaxes on a plank, with Richard Marquand and Mark Hamill close by.

24. “It’s a trap,” which is arguably the most famous line in the movie, was, incredibly, not in the screenplay. The line was scripted as “Its a trick!” and was later changed post-filming after a test screening because, let’s face it, “it’s a trick” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

25. During the writing of the film, Mark Hamill speculated that the film would include Luke Skywalker’s turn to the Dark Side and eventual redemption, but it’s unclear whether this was wishful thinking on his part or a plot point that was genuinely considered.

26. An early version of the movie was to end with Luke walking off alone, leaving his friends behind in true gunfighter/Samurai fashion. That idea was dropped in favor of a happier ending, reportedly because Lucas feared a downbeat ending would throw a wrench in the printing press from which truckloads of merchandising money flowed.

27. Harrison Ford wanted Han Solo to die in the movie, sacrificing himself to save his friends. George Lucas vetoed that idea even though co-writer Lawrence Kasdan supported it. Kasdan suggested that Solo not survive being thawed, in part to make the audience believe no one was safe in the final film.

Harrison Ford chats with George Lucas between setups.

28. Another idea abandoned early on was having Obi-Wan Kenobi return from the dead. It did, however, make it into an early draft of the script.

29. One more abandoned idea: There were rumors that the final scenes were to mirror the ceremony of Star Wars‘ finale, but instead of Luke, Han and Chewie getting medals, we’d witness the marriage of Han and Leia. Although this never happened, their marriage became part of Star Wars canon and serves as a basis for developments in the comic book and novel spin-offs.

Phil Tippett manipulates the miniature Luke Skywalker on a speeder bike puppet in front of a blue screen.

30. When scenes of post-victory celebrations around the galaxy were added to the 1997 Special Edition re-release, it was less a case of George Lucas tampering and more a case of fixing something that was missing from the original version of the movie. Lucas and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan had wanted to show Coruscant celebrating the end of the Empire originally but, unable to come up with a name for the city, dropped the idea entirely. It was only after Timothy Zahn came up with the name in his Heir to The Empire novel that the Imperial Capital had a name.

31. Before the Millennium Falcon leaves for the final battle with the Death Star, Han says, “I just got a funny feeling, like I’m not gonna see her again.” This would seem to foreshadow the Falcon’s demise in battle. But it doesn’t. Researchers have looked into the matter from the first scripts of this movie, and have found that in all drafts of the script, Lando and the Falcon survive. All claims that the Falcon would not survive are urban legends, forgeries, or mistaken assumptions.

32. Per “Star Wars” lore, Endor, the planet where the sun sets on the Empire, originally was to be populated by armies of Chewbacca’s towering kind until it proved easier to populate the set with armies of much smaller creatures. According to some fan allegations, the Ewoks were an intentional cash grab — kid-friendly characters “designed purely make money.”

Return of the Jedi 32th Anniversary

On this Monday, May 25, “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi” will turn 32.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

“Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi” is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan, with Lucas as executive producer. It is chronologically the sixth film in the Star Wars franchise and the first film to use THX technology. The film is set approximately one year after “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” and was produced by Howard Kazanjian and Lucasfilm Ltd.

In the plot, the evil Galactic Empire, under the direction of the ruthless Emperor Palpatine, is building a second Death Star in order to crush the Rebel Alliance. Since Emperor Palpatine plans to personally oversee the final stages of its construction, the Rebel Fleet launches a full-scale attack on the Death Star in order to prevent its completion and kill Palpatine, effectively bringing an end to the Empire. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker, a Rebel leader and Jedi Apprentice, struggles to bring Vader, who is his father and himself a fallen Jedi, back from the Dark Side of the Force.

David Lynch and David Cronenberg were considered to direct the project before Richard Marquand signed on as director. Filming began on January 11, 1982 and lasted through May 20, 1982, a schedule six weeks shorter than “The Empire Strikes Back”, and took place in England, California, and Arizona, with Lucas handling second unit work. Kazanjian’s schedule pushed shooting as early as possible in order to give Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) as much time as possible to work on effects, and left some crew members dubious of their ability to be fully prepared for the shoot.

Heavy secrecy surrounded production and the film was given the title “Blue Harvest” to prevent price gouging. The original teaser trailer for the film carried the name “Revenge of the Jedi”, but in December 1982 Lucas decided that “Revenge” was not appropriate and returned to his original title. “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi” was released in theaters on May 25, 1983. The film it’s turning 32 this Monday.

Revenge of the Jedi

This weekend on All That I Love, we are celebrating the Episode IV A New Hope 38th anniversary and the Episode V The Empire Strikes Back 35th anniversary as well the 32th anniversary of Episode VI Revenge of the Jedi. Wait… What?

Two months early the released of Star Wars Episode VI: Revenge of the Jedi in theaters, George Lucas decided to change the title of the movie. He said at the time have taken this decision because a Jedi would not seek revenge, but was a marketing strategy of Lucasfilm, too, because there were a lot of piracy products of Star Wars named “Revenge of the Jedi”, included some licensed products as the action figures from Kenner which had to remove all those toys named Revenge and change to new Return of the Jedi products…

Watch the original teaser trailer for Revenge of the Jedi, which appeared in theaters before Star Wars creator George Lucas changed the name of the film to Return of the Jedi. This trailer features the completed Revenge of the Jedi logo, shows Luke wielding a blue lightsaber (in the final film, his Jedi weapon would have a green blade), and features a quick shot of Obi-Wan Kenobi before “spirit” effects were added.

When David Lynch Met George Lucas

George Lucas approached David Lynch, who had been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for “The Elephant Man” in 1980, to helm “Return of the Jedi”, but Lynch declined in order to direct “Dune”. David Cronenberg was also offered the chance to direct the film, but he declined the offer to make “Videodrome” and “The Dead Zone”. Lucas eventually chose Richard Marquand, who directed the 1981 movie “Eye of the Needle”. Some reports have suggested that Lucas was so heavily involved in the shooting of “Return of the Jedi” that he could be considered a second or a co-director.

But what would have happened if David Lynch, the bizarre director of “Blue Velvet,” “Twin Peaks”, “Mulholand Drive” and “Inland Empire” had accepted to direct “Return of the Jedi”? We will never know, but look at this video below where Lynch said in an interview how was the day he met George Lucas. The credits from the video belongs to Sascha Ciezata.